27 Inside India’s $30 Billion Ghost Town Lavasa
Oh wow. Wow! Look at this place. Oh wow. Okay, let's do the same. Look at this nice temple here. And look at this nice sunrise. What a beautiful morning. Good
morning, world! Welcome back to the channel. It's ride number 27 on our motorcycle adventure here in India, and we're here in the town of Panchgani in the state of Maharashtra. The sun is just rising over the other side of this massive valley in front of us, and the hotel we stayed at last night was perched right on the edge. Wow, it looks so nice here. It's an absolutely breathtaking landscape. And even better, yesterday at sunset, we got to see it from the sky. Woo woo! It was stunning. Let's stop here for a second. Okay. Yeah, it was kind of like this view right here, but times 1,000 when you're actually flying over the top and then off the cliff. It was so cool. I loved it. Yeah, it's such a
beautiful area here. Bye-bye, beautiful view. Yes, it was an amazing birthday surprise yesterday. Thanks to the guys at Sky Edge Param Motors for making that all possible. You guys are absolutely awesome! And we've got an awesome ride coming up today—and an awesome destination. So let me show you guys where we're heading today. So, we are here in Panchgani, and today we'll be riding north to explore India's largest ghost town—the abandoned city of Lavasa. I actually saw this place in another YouTuber's video, and I was like, "Oh my god, we've got to go there and check that place out." Then I checked the map and
realized that we're not even that far away. Yes! So, it's about a 3-and-a-half-hour ride to get to Lavasa, and it's already 7:30. So we'd better hit the road. Let's go. Just realized that we need to get some petrol. And here's a petrol station, so that's perfect. Good morning. Full, please. Thank you. Let's check the price per liter... Ah,
it's 105 per liter—so that's still about a pound. Shanti and Mowgli, ready for another successful day here in India! Nice decorated town here. Yeah, look at these beautiful colored flags. It looks like everybody's just waking up, getting ready to get their day going.
I always like the first hour of the day when we're riding here in India. I mean, there is traffic, but everything is a little bit calmer. Yeah, it's the peaceful hour of the day. Oh okay, I can hear you. This guy woke up and chose violence! But basically, after this road, the whole town just drops off down into the valley. Stunning! Yeah! Look at those views. Heat. Heat! Wow, what a start to our day. We are just descending down on the edge of this massive valley here. I mean, this has got to be one of the best starts to the day we've had on the whole
trip so far. Yeah, there's nothing better than a mountain road. Eh, wow. So nice. Seriously! Yeah, and yesterday we were flying up there—over there. I would so like to see the view and look out there, but I definitely have to concentrate on this road. I'll have to watch the video and see the views there. And today, we're going to be descending down
here before taking the highway—a big crazy highway that runs all the way through Pune and all the way to Mumbai. But we're not going to be taking the highway for very long, because then we're going to be turning off, heading back into the hills over there, and heading towards Lavasa. It's going to be a hilly day. Yes, it's going to be a hilly day with some beautiful mountain
roads and a little bit of highway. You need variety in your life to spice it up. Are you trying to say "variety is the spice of life"? Could be, yeah. Well, the Indians—they know about spice. Eh, yeah. But sweetheart, it's already a phrase in English. Is it? Yeah, I didn’t know. You're a little philosopher sometimes. Here you go, my love. Yummy! I miss masala dosa so much. Where's mine? What is that? You want to try? Okay. What? What is it? Shaboo? Shaboo? This is the curd? Oh,
that's curd. Okay, okay. Let me dip... let me dip in curd. Ah. And this one's called shaboo? Yes. That's really, really good. Oh, here we go. Thank you! Okay, if we're still hungry after this, we have to order that. Mhm. That's really nice. Nice and deep-fried. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Bye-bye, guys! Nice to meet you. All right, we are down from the valley, and we're just coming up to the National Highway 48. This is a whole different vibe from up there on the hill. But actually, it's quite quiet this morning — that's quite nice.
45 kilometers straight. Finally, I can enjoy the view a little bit. Wow, guys! We just realized that the city in front of us is most likely Pune. Waah, that's a big city here. Absolutely crazy! Yeah, I think we're just riding past Pune
now. Wow. And actually, the city of Pune has a population of 7.2 million people in the metropolitan area. That makes it the seventh most populous metropolitan area in the whole of India. So it's crazy that such a big city is so close to Mumbai — two absolute megacities side by side here in Maharashtra. And Pune is often referred to as the "Oxford of the
East" because of all the educational institutions in the city. And it's actually been ranked the most— oh wait, got these speed breakers. Woo! Oh god, they’ve got so many of them. I'm not even going to be able to talk to you guys. So Bernet is the— but the city's actually been ranked the most livable city in India several times. I'm not sure exactly who's ranking it, but let's just say it's supposedly a livable city. I'm always happy when I make it down the highway. Oh wait, wait, wait —
these ladies. You okay? I decided to stop for her, but then she really didn't want to go in front of me. Oh, I need to calm down for a second as well, because that was a lot of traffic and a lot of fast road.
Anyway, that's it for the National Highway 48. We did it. We survived it unscathed. And now it's time to take a right here and head back into the mountains. I wonder if one day the metropolitan regions of Mumbai and Pune will just, like, join together into one mega-mega-mega city — Mumbai-Pune. Oh wow, look at the trees here on this road. That's pretty. There's a whole lot of banyan trees. Wow. Hi, guys! Yes, that's us. Nice. Oh, she just showed me our channel! Oh, cool! She's like, "This is you." I can hear some drums and I can see
some people. Oh yeah, there's a procession going down this road — literally the busiest road. Oh my goodness. Okay, wait a second. Let's go off to the side. Yep. Wow, oh cool. And there's a shrine with loads of flowers on it. Just be careful on your insides. Oh god, he scared me. Okay, is he letting me— letting me go? Let me go. The guy with, uh, 1 million kids on the back and a cigarette in his hand. So we're about 5 Ks off of the highway now,
and it's already much quieter — apart from the noise from this machine. That was a hectic ride. I agree. You just go into a mode of stress, like a deer in the headlights the whole time. You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's happening? What's going on left? What's going on right?" It's very stressful. Our expulses — they're just not made for the highway. They are made for the winding mountain roads. And that is where we're heading.
Check these guys out — some beautifully painted cows! Now, we've shown you guys painted cows before, but this time we thought we'd actually stop and show you them up close. Oh Jesus! Okay, sorry guys. Look, they've got beautiful golden horns and a pink stripe down their back. And they've got an "M" symbol on them. Ah, beautiful. Hello! And then they've got Shiva's trident in the middle of their forehead. So anyway, there you go, guys — the beautiful painted giant cows of India. You don't find those cows in Somerset, I tell you!
We are finally on an open road. We have left all the traffic behind. We are now on the final stretch and heading towards Lavasa. The accommodation where we're going to stay tonight we found on Booking.com, and it's supposed to be directly on the lake. So I'm super excited to check that out. And the price is like 1,400 rupees. Oh my god, look ahead, Ollie! Wow! Look
at that — a giant dam. Giant dam! Oh look, some cows. Hello guys. Cool. Parking charges? Hello? 200? One bike? One bike — 200? Huh? 200? 200? 400? Thank you. Parking charges. Mhm. Okay. Name? Oliver. Spelling? O-Y-L-L-I-I-V-E-R. Okay. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye! Bye-bye.
Oh, welcome to Lavasa! There you go. Welcome to the abandoned city of Lavasa — which apparently still has accommodation, because we were able to book it. So hopefully that's not abandoned. I'm interested to find out how abandoned this place really is. Or was this YouTuber just
lying to us? Which is very likely. So, we've come to a lookout over the city. Let's see how abandoned it really is. Oh wow. Crazy! Definitely, all of these buildings there look abandoned. Definitely. Yeah, pretty much everything on that side looks like a work in progress that was never completed. But you know what? If I'm not mistaken, then this accommodation there on the corner — right next to the lake — it's ours. No way. Yeah. Yeah it is, isn’t it? That white building. The one in the very corner. Yeah,
that's like the best location in town. Yeah, I think we booked the best place in town. And I think we get to ride over the dam as well. Mhm. That's pretty cool. Nice. So, I think the plan is going to be: we'll head down to the accommodation, drop off all this hot sweaty gear, drop off our bags, and then we'll go and have a bit of an exploration of the abandoned city of Lavasa. Let's head down. What did you say? Same? Did you— wow. They’ve got loads of street signs for
neighborhoods — like down there: Lake View Crescent, Waterfall Crescent — but like nothing has actually been developed. Nothing has been made. Oh wow. Oh wow. Look at this place. So, I think this was supposed to be the convention center for the city. Wow. That looks like they were trying to build an amazing building there… and then it looks like it just— it just all stopped one day. Oh look, going over the dam! Oh cool. Wow.
And it's crazy. This place just is… empty. And normally, like all the villages, all the towns — they're always full with people. This place feels very, very, very empty. Here. Cool! What a nice pick. Eh, at least this one building was finished—just for us. We just checked in. I just got the keys. I'll show you the room now. It's a really cool room. Check out that—an extremely big living room/bedroom. Here's our bathroom. There's the
shower. Everything inside here feels pretty new, except this crack here. I don't know what that's about, but okay. But the nicest thing about this room is actually the view. Oh, I thought you were going to say me. So Ollie is already enjoying this incredibly nice view. Look at this—so amazing! Yeah, this is like the best location in town. Seriously. Hotel here, water there—so nice. The buildings you can see over there are all abandoned. We will head there now and
find out more about this unique place. Or should we just stay here in the shade? So, Lavasa was a dream. A dream to become India’s first private smart city, developed by Lavasa Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of the Hindustan Construction Company. Inspired by the Italian town of Portofino, Lavasa was planned as a high-tech, self-sustaining urban center. The city—covering over 25,000 acres—was meant to be a blend of urban infrastructure and natural beauty, with modern amenities, luxury housing, business hubs, educational institutions, and tourism facilities. Lavasa’s
promoters pitched it as India’s answer to planned global cities like Singapore. Development began in 2000, and by the late 2000s, Lavasa had drawn significant interest from real estate investors, multinational companies, and even celebrities. The project promised a futuristic city with an eco-friendly and high-quality lifestyle. So let’s go for a ride around and see what went wrong.
Wow. All of these flats are definitely abandoned. Oh yeah. There are no windows or anything there. Hey, you can see behind, there’s another building, and like, all of that is definitely abandoned. What a place, hey? Yeah. If you're the kind of person that likes to explore abandoned places, then seriously, Lavasa is the place to come. I mean, look here. Look at this one. Wow. I mean, this is like an urban explorer’s paradise. Oh wow! Look at this. Wow. There is just building after building
after building here. I mean, they were really building. Oh, it’s so sad to see. They must have put so much time, effort, money, dreams into this project—$700 million of dreams. Oh my god. I feel so sad. Can’t believe that. Oh wow. Here it says “Apollo Hospital this way.” So this was supposed to be the information center? Yeah. Wow. And look here—crazy. Wow. It really feels like a proper city here in the center. Uh-huh. But none of it’s completed.
Here’s a fire station. Oh, a university! Yes, so Christ University is actually one of the rare places in town that is actually operational. Oh wow, yeah! It’s actually a working university—like a proper university campus. That’s cool. I think they just decided, even though everything else fell through, they were like, “You know what? We’re going to try and make a proper go at this university thing.” I mean, there’s not much of a nightlife for the students, let’s say. Look at this neighborhood. Oh wow. Wow, look at this place. This is definitely abandoned. Wow,
that is crazy. So you can see here that there’s been a landslide. Oh wow. And the entire house has just fallen down. Uh-huh. And now it’s just left here. Wow. Like, how often does a house just fall off a cliff and then you just leave it? That’s crazy. Wow. Okay, now we’ve got to take a closer look at this one. Oh wow.
Well, from this perspective, it’s just like a normal house where gravity is all messed up. Wow. Crazy. But it’s super surreal, though, because like... yeah, I can feel it as well. Like, my head doesn’t really want to process that. Is there actually another house behind you? Let me check. Oh wow! Yes. Oh wow, yeah—there’s actually another one. And another one over
there! Wow. There are three houses. And this one has been completely buried. Wow. Crazy. I mean, that is beyond insane. That is crazy. That is crazy. Like, three houses from the neighborhood are just in pieces. I wonder when that happened, you know? Or how that happened. I don’t know, but that looks like a major setback for the Lavasa Corporation. Wow. Just imagine how this place could have been. Check out this house. It has no windows,
and it’s completely overgrown with plants. And look at these two over here. You can just see how the nature takes back its place. It kind of feels like a set from a horror movie—like a zombie movie. You could probably do some quite cool movies here with a set like that. Yes. All Indian directors—please, please come here and film a post-apocalyptic movie here. By 2010, the Lavasa dream began unraveling due to a series of legal and financial troubles, including environmental violations, controversy around the acquisition of land, and financial struggles due to delays. Investors and banks lost confidence in Lavasa. Loans piled up, and development slowed.
Many buyers and investors had actually paid for homes, but the incomplete infrastructure and legal troubles meant that they just couldn’t move in—or that their house had fallen off a cliff. By the late 2010s, Lavasa was in deep debt, and key investors began pulling out. In 2018, the company filed for insolvency due to unpaid debts exceeding $700 million. While a few families and businesses still remain, the city of Lavasa has largely been abandoned—gradually transforming into the ghost town it is today. Here’s somebody who made it nice. Yeah, it’s crazy because the odd building is like really nicely done. So clearly, somebody was just like, “You know what? I’m just going to live there. I
don’t care what anyone else says. I don’t care if the rest of it’s not finished. I’m going to live in my house that I’ve paid for.” And you know what? Fair enough. You paid for it, you go live in it. Put some lovely flowers. Oh—bit of chicken! Oh, sorry guys. Sorry chickens. Oh, look at this one. That was really not constructed yet. No. Okay, we’re getting to the wild top end of town now. They have not even started building the road here. But it’s crazy that this was actually supposed to be a planned neighborhood.
Oh wow. Look—something going on there. They’ve got a water pumping station. Yeah. You know, this would have been part of the plans to have housing all the way up the hills—all these neighborhoods. That’s insane. They’ve put in the street lights. Yeah, I guess that’s the first thing they did. They just planned it and put the road in. What a view. Hey—what a view. What a place. It’s incredible. From here, you can’t really tell that it’s abandoned. You know, from here it just looks like a normal town. The only difference is that there are no cars,
no tuk-tuks. You can’t hear anything beeping. Yeah, exactly. No hustle and bustle. Nothing. Every street is dead. That’s not India. I know it. No, exactly. Wow. No, this is not India here at all. No way. Just imagine how the place could have been, you know? I think there’s still hope for Lavasa. Wow. I mean, that’s insane. The city of Lavasa stands as a cautionary tale of unrealistic urban planning, regulatory oversight failures, and financial mismanagement. A city that was ahead of its time, but ultimately
collapsed under the weight of its own ambitions. But we’re going to head now to the main waterfront area—right down there at the bottom. And I can see on Google Maps that there are some non-abandoned places to eat there. So let’s go see what Lavasa could have been. You’re living here in Lavasa? Okay. Okay. Very cool. Thank you. Hindi? Hindi? No Hindi? No? Sorry. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Dhaniyaad. That's all. That's all we know. That's all we know.
You lived in Lavasa? Long time? Long time. Lavasa? Lavasa. Wow. Beautiful. Very beautiful. Beautiful. Shooting? Gabbar is Aumar? Okay. Shooting? Shooting? Feature shooting? A film? Film shooting? Film? Shooting Gabbar is Back? Aumar? Uh-huh. Wow. Okay.
Marathi? Okay — a Marathi film? Marathi film. Today? Now? Oh no. Oh wow. Okay, there you go! So they are filming a movie here! I said they should film a movie here. Wow. Awesome. Cool! Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you guys! Yeah! Have a good day. Bye-bye! Wow. Oh, look — some kangaroos! Yeah. And also look at the buildings, though. I like the little top. Oh wow, yeah — up there! Look at this rooftop. Yeah, it kind of does feel like a little bit of a European vibe here, you know? Yeah,
it does kind of feel like a European city. I think it would have been spectacular. Absolutely. I mean, you can see the vision. You can see it. It's a little slice of Europe here. We could be walking on the South Bank of the Thames right now — if anything was open. It’s hard to tell if these shops here — "Grandma’s Homemade Pâtisserie" — It's hard to tell if it's actually just closed for today or if it's closed permanently. Hmm… that doesn’t look operational to me. I don’t know. But let's just say, there are not a
lot of places open here on the waterfront. Oh wow. Is that an American diner? Yes! It actually says here: "Restaurant will be closed between 3 and 6." Okay, but it is now 6:07… So I’m not sure if they’re going to be open, but it looks set up, you know? Like, there’s some ketchup on the table. Some mustard. I mean, how crazy would that be if we could have American diner food here — in like the Little Italy of India? Let’s hang around for like 10 minutes and see if somebody shows up. Yes. Fingers crossed, guys. Five minutes later… Whoa. Wow! The lights are going on! Waah! This is surreal. Wow!
So, where in America are we? We're in Tennessee. Wow! Oh, we've got to sit in one of these booths — definitely the one with the window. Okay. I love it. Really, I didn’t expect that for today. That’s so cool. Yeah, and like, the quality of this place as well — Like, it really feels like we’re in an American diner. And we know, because we went to an American diner when we were in the US.
Hello! Thank you so much. Wow. This — this place is incredible! Yeah. And you actually have here, like, American food? Yeah, we have American-Indian. Oh, you have like burgers, fries? Yes. Cool. Cool. Wow. What an incredible day. India — again — you
have just blown my mind. That we can now sit here, like, in an American diner?! So, we will just enjoy our meal. And that’s it from us today. We hope you enjoyed the video! If so, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, share the video with your friends and family, comment below — and we will see you next time. Heat. Hey. Heat.
2025-05-20 00:56
